warning including h.p. and intel. they see storm clouds. >> governor romney and paul ryan will be my special guest tonight at 9:00 p.m. i have forwarded money supply questions to hannity so he is covered. still think it is too late for romney to roar in wait until you hear about bundlers who are busted. 0t[h7♪ forz(power!) andiamo! andiamo! (let's go! let's go!) avanti! avanti! (keep going! keep going!) hahaha...hahahaha! you know ronny, folks who save hundreds of dollars by switching to geico sure are happy. and how happy are they jimmy? happier than christopher columbus with speedboats. that's happy! get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. at red lobster. there's so many choices, the gues love it! [ male announcer ] don't miss endless shrimp. try as much as you like, anyway you like. like new teriyaki grilled shrimp for just $14.99! my name is gela trapp, and i sea food differently. >> conservatives are frustrated how long the president has been able to get appear with saying some of things that are not rue and not having to justify the reco

obama, democratic nominee, and former massachusetts governor, mitt romney, republican nominee. the debates are sponsored by the commission on presidential debates. tonight's 90 minutes will be about domestic issues and will follow a format designed by the commission. there will be six roughly 15-minute segments with two-minute answers for the first question, then open discussion for the remainder of each segment. thousands of people offered suggestions on segment subjects or questions, via the internet and other means, but i made the final selections, and for the record, they were not submitted for approval to the commission or the candidates. the segments as i announced in advance will be three on the economy, and one each on health care, the role of government, and governing. with an emphasis through out on differences, specifics, and choices. both candidates will also have two-minute closing statements. the audience here in the hall has promised to remain silent. no cheers, applause, boos, hisses, among other noisy, distracting things, so we may all concentrate on what the candi

. tell me have you spoken to governor romney since the debate? >> i. i can tell you he was smilingng. tonight was a historical night. and this is a sense that that is shocking. the performance but there is a problem for governor and drk-excuse me, the president, mitt romney was ready, and prepared. and he was ten yaishis and respectful. the president meandering. i think he left his heart back in washington, d.c.. he was boring and wasn't prepared for the president it was unbelievable for the wrong reasons for governor romney this was a night i think expired this constory that there is someone in governor romney not only capable of doing the things necessary to get this country back on track but there is a governor who is prepared, detailed. he came out ready to go for the american people and with almost 60 million people watching tonight i think he gave the american people what they -- what the respect they deserved. >> since you're the inside track there is for instance, do you know where paul ryan is tonight? where he watched? >> do you know what? i've got paul's schedule and i don

oversight and regulation of wall street? because if you do, then... governor romney is your candidate. >> don't forget, you put $90 billion, like 50 years worth of breaks into solar and wind. to sole lynn dra and fiskar and tesla. i had a friend that said you don't just pick binners and losers, pick the losers. and carl rove joins us. let's go to the issue of undecided. jump in there. those at least watching. >> well, we're likely to see a bump out of this. not much of a bump but a little bit of a bump. first debate is most important of the debates and this typically the winner that gets a point two points out of the debate. there is a close race like this, that matters but to step back just a moment. what matters is that there is to a lesser extent there is the vice presidential debate. soits not over tonight but there is a strong start for mitt romney. and this is an astonishingly good start and a very bad start for the incumbent president of the united states. >> you know looking at the twitter universe which is not a science study and this is seeming to me one thing the governor d

we welcome president obama. and governor romney. [ applause ] >> jim. >> gentlemen, welcome to you both. let's start with the economy. segment one, and let's begin with jobs. what are the major differences between the two of you about how you would go about creating new jobs? have you two minutes. each of you have two minutes to start. a coin toss determined, mr. president, you go first. >> thank you very much, jim, for this opportunity. i want to thank governor romney and the university of denver for your hospitality, a lot of points i want to make tonight, but the most important one is that 20 years ago, became the luckiest man on earth because michelle obama agreed to marry me. i want to wish you happy anniversary, and a year from now, we won't celebrate it in front of 40 million people. four years ago, we went through the worst financial crisis since the great depression. millions of jobs were lost, the auto industry was on the brink of collapse the financial system had frozen up, and because of the resilience and determination of the american people, we've begun to fight our w

enormous pressure on president obama and governor romney right now. we're asking debate watchers, those who watched the debate to the history books. tonight, just like we will after every upcoming debate, we're breaking it down, issue by issue. this means more talk from the candidate on a particular topic. looking at some of the totals, we'll show you what's going on. but, first, here are some of the highlights from the first presidential debate. >> what things would i cut from spending? first of all, i will eliminate all programs by this test. if they don't pass it. is the program so critical, it's worth boring money from china to pay for it? obama care is on my list. i apologize mr. president. jim, i'm sorry, i had stop the subsidy to pbs. i love big bird, like you too. but i won't keep on spending money to borrow money from china to pay for. i'll take programs that are currently good programs but could be run more efficiently at the state level and send them to state. and make government more efficient, cut back the number of employees, combine agencies and departments, cutbac

view via commercials, adds, attacks on governor romney to reassess him. i was trying to use that ron reagan analogy. a little apples and oranges, i grant you, but in the end hit reagan looked like an appealing alternative. now so possibly mitt romney. >> well, i think what it does is it says that the romney of the ads, the $250 million worth of eight ads that obama has put on television, that is not mitt romney. they now have a chance to watch him for 90 minutes. i saw a guy who really cares about people, the country. is compassionate and is willing to work hard to make things better and knows how to make things better. i think they have a different view of the candidate now. they have to go back and do the evaluation all over again. at least it will make the evaluation again. neil: i know you are a friend and confidante of the former governor. could you let me in on a secret, i suspect. did you introduce and to kathy last night? >> i think it would have been extirpate the butter and jelly sandwiches. neil: either that a red bull. but it also could be that this guy is really that sma

: thank you. what does governor romney need to do wednesday night in the first debate? >> he needs to give the american people the choice that we are offering. that is what we are doing. we owe the country a cheer choice of a different future. we can either have a dynamic growing economy that produces opportunity or we can have a stagnant economy that fosters dependency. stick with the failed policies of the last four years for the next four years or get a brighter future. stagnation versus growth. dependency versus opportunity and upper mobility. that is the classic choice and clear difference that we are offering and what we hope people get out of this this debate is that choice. >> chris: it is interesting because for the last six months the romney campaign said this is a referendum on barack obama's record and now you are saying it is a choice. >> it is not a change in strategy. a phase of the campaign we now entered into. i think it is important. the president is trying to paper over his problems and has been trying to mislead and distort the record. it is a failed record. we thi

, regulating more, if you, will trickle-down government would work. >> governor romney has a perspective that says if he cut taxes skewed towards the wealthy and roll back regulations we'll be better off. gwen: 90 minutes later, even democrats gave the debate win to roll any. but after the dust settled, what was true and what wasn't? >> it is not possible to come up with enough loopholes and deductions to only affect high-income individuals to avoid either raising the deficit or burdening the middle class. it's math. >> i'm not in favor of a $5 trillion tax cut. my plan is not to put in place any tax cut that will add to the deficit. gwen: and will today's improved jobs numbers change the political landscape again? debating, peter baker of "the new york times," dan balz of the "washington post." jeanne cummings of block berg news, and john dickerson of slate magazine and cbs news. >> award winning reporting and analysis, covering history as it happens. live in our nation's capital, this is "washington week" with gwen ifill, produced in association with "national journal." corporate fundi

democratic nominee, and form massachusetts governor mitt romney, the republican nominee. this debate as the next three, two presidential, one vice presidential are sponsored by the commission on presidential debates. tonight's 90 minutes will be about domestic issues and will follow a format designed by the commission. there will be six roughly 15 minute segments. thousands of people offered suggestions on segment subjects but i made the final selections and for the record they were not submitted for approval to the commission or the candidates. the segments will be three on the economy and one each on health care the role of government, and governing. with an emphasis throughout on differences, specifics, and choices. both candidates will also have two-minute closing statements. the audience here in the hall has promised to remain silent. no cheers applause boos hiss among other noisy distracting things, so we may all concentrate on what the candidates have to say. there is a noise exception right now, though as we welcome president obama and governor romney. [ cheers and applause ]

joined for an exclusive interview by both governor romney and his runningmate, congressman paul ryan. even the most left-wing observers have conceded that their candzidate bombed without his teleprompter last night. obama aides are trying to pin it all on mitt romney. believe it or not, they are accusing the governor of lying. of course, they are the ones that are. watch this. >> again and again and again, he told the story to the american people that is completely... in contrast with what he said before and unfounded in fact. and that's going to catch up with him. i give him credit for strong performance. i give him an "f" for being honest with the american people. >> sean: for 90 minutes, president obama lied about his record and president obama lied about what he would do in a second term. you want proof? here it is. >> if you want to be president, you owe the american people the truth, the truth. >> the fact check. >> this claim is based on a fiscal fiction. >> the bipartisan nonprofit committee has called that a gimmick. the president is also counting on savings agreed to last y

. >> governor romney's central economic plan calls for a $5 trillion tax cut on top of the bush tax cut. >> i don't have a tax cut of the scale that you are talking about. >> for 18 months he has been running on this tax plan. and now five weeks before the election he is saying that his big, bold idea is never mind. >> joining me now is esra. he says he doesn't have a $5 trillion tax cut. >> mitt romney has existed in a state of what we say quantum uncertainty. the way you break this down. i don't think he has been inconsistent on this. he has a tax cut. if you implemented it, what he says though, and has said from the beginning is that he will pay for that tax cut. when you include that sentence, he then says fairly scored, i have promised as a later date to pay for it. the question has been how are you going to pay for it? why should we believe you when no republican in 20 or 30 years has paid for a tax cut. i'm not sure it is wrong for romney to say that he is going to do a $5 trillion tax cut. the problem is he hasn't told us a word about how he is going to pay for it. the three

done that economics. >> the approach that governor romney is talking about is the same sales pitch that was made in 2001 and 2003. we ended up with the slowest job growth in 50 years. >> whether it was health care, jobs, or medicare, it was romney who stood out for his aggressive ste. >> i just don't know how the president could have come into office facing 23 million people out of work, rising unemployment, an economic crisis at the kitchen table, and spend his energy and passion for two years fighting for obama care. >> the president made his points in a slower, more laid back, often looking down, sometimes appearing disengaged. it's not that he didn't try to rip apart romney's economic plan. >> that kind of top-down economics where folks at the top are doing well, so the average person making $3 million is getting a $250,000 tax break while middle class families are burdened further. >> romney was determined to go toe to toe. >> well, but virtually everything he said about my tax plan is inaccurate. if the tax plan he described were a tax plan i was asked to support, i would say abso

governor romney's proposing, what has to happen is that the money has to come from somewhere. and when you move to a voucher system, you are putting seniors at the mercy of those insurance companies, and over time, if traditional medicare has decayed or fallen apart, then they're stuck. and this is the reason why aarp has said that your plan would weaken medicare, substantially, and that's why they were supportive of the approach that we took. one last point i want to make. we do have to lower the cost of health care. not just in medicare -- >> in a minute. >> but overall. >> okay. >> that's a big topic. >> i want to get to it. all i want to do, very quickly, before we leave the economy -- >> let's get back to medicare. the president said that the government could provide the service at a lower cost and without a profit. if that's the case then it will always be the best product that people can purchase. >> just a minute, governor. >> my experience is the private sector is typically able to provide a better product at a lower cost. >> can the two of you agree that the voters have

sharpton. >>> thanks, chris, and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, governor romney is getting by on a zing and a prayer with just 36 days to go, things are getting desperate for team romney. the bad news keeps piling up. the latest swing state polls show him trailing the president by 11 points. 11. fox business is reporting that romney is losing donors to republican house and senate candidates. they are moving their money because they think he's going to lose. so much for the liberal media bias. that was a fox report. even conservatives are arguing that this wednesday's debate is do or die. >> you just heard paul ryan say that romney will offer the country a clear choice of two different economic futures. is that what romney needs to do wednesday? is that enough? >> well, i think it would be good to just win the debate. that's my advice to governor romney and it's time to begin panicking a little bit. >> time to begin panicking? but don't worry, governor romney has a solution. zingers. the "new york times" reports that mr. romney's team has concluded that debates are a

you. >> what are you expecting? do you think governor romney comes out swinging right off the bat? what do you think he is going to be pressured and asked about in terms of specifics on his economic plan? >> overall i don't expect a whole lot of specifics from either one. in the last several weeks the whole of the discussion has been on debate techniques and who's going to make the biggest gaffe. hopefully they'll get to the bottom of it. but i don't know if they'll get around to what i consider the biggest financial issues, the debt crisis that we have. and what are they going to do about it. and how do they relate to the federal reserve. say we can't have much to do with it. let the fed monetize the debt and go on and on? i have not heard from either one of them actually cutting something. so i'm afraid the important issue of the financial crisis that we're in the middle of is going to get worse. my prediction is they won't really deal with it tonight. if they do talk about it, i think the answers will be muffled and they'll sort of talk about it the same way about what to do ab

, folks, all kidding aside, by picking paul ryan, what governor romney has done is he has given clear definition to all those vague assertions he was making during his primary campaign. he talked a lot about a lot of the things that paul ryan talked about, but never in any detail. but by picking paul ryan and laying out why he picked paul ryan, he picked paul ryan because paul ryan does represent the ideological -- how do i say it? the center of the republican party. he said, basically, that's why i'm picking paul ryan. now we don't have to guess about what governor romney meands means when he says things about medicare, social security, and all these things. it is almost like two incumbents running. because paul ryan, and i mean this sincerely, paul ryan introduced the ren republican budget in the house of representatives, sold by the republicans, that in fact lays out in stark detail what they would do on everything from medicare to medicaid to social security to education to the debt. i mean, across the board. so we don't have to wonder anymore. we don't have to wonder any more wha

same policies that governor romney supports. that's a very strong argument. no one i think on the democratic side will go around and celebrate and sit there and say the job is done, but when the choice in voters' minds, especially when you have this debate in the coming debates, the president is going to be able to turn around in a very strong and forceful way and say, listen, we've created 5 million jobs. the unemployment rate is now under 8% and governor romney your policies are the ones that will end up creating a worse economic climate, a worse jobs crisis because we know that. it already happened before. so that's what i think it does. it provides the president a really strong contrast. >> susan, mitt romney ate his spinach for that debate. peggy noonan who has been riding the campaign trail of mitt romney and what he's been doing it pretty hard in her editorials. noonan writing now the real romney is the one who can communicate. he's straight and direct and not fancy. forgivably jargony but worried about america and sin veer. that's the romney who showed up for the debate. s

jersey governor chris christie. good morning. >> good morning, george. >> since the convention, romney has fallen behind in the battlegrounds. new polls out this morning, ohio and iowa, behind. governor romney has to shake things up wednesday night. >> he's going to, i mean, every time mitt romney has been confronted in this campaign with one of these moments, he has come through the debate and performing extraordinarily well. contrasting himself and his vision to whoever the opponent was at that time. when we get to thursday morning, you'll be saying it's a brand-new race with 33 days to go. >> that hasn't happened yet. on the one hand he has to be assertive with the president but like wbl the voters. how does that happen. >> be truthful. if you tell the truth about what's going on in our country, people are going to understand that's critical of the president's stewardship, also to lay out a positive and hopeful vision for what the future can be for our children and grandchildren under a romney administration. romney can walk and chew gum at the same time. i'm not worried. listen, i

countdown is on. the race between president obama and governor mitt romney increasingly tightening this weekend. and since wednesday night's big debate as the latest jobs report. and just this morning, governor romney already getting in some more prep time for next week's debate. and before hitting the campaign trail, in the key battle ground state of florida. and senator-- the national correspondent john roberts joins us live now from the city apopka. and the governor is scheduled to attend a rally. tell us about it. >> we've got a little bit after florida thunderstorm popped up and expected to be gone by the time the governor hits the stage here, and travelling on the i-4 corridor where elections are won and lost in florida and even up, rasmussen has romney up by a couple of points and trying to keep the momentum going from the great debate performance and trying to show voters he's not the scary guy that the obama campaign makes him out to be. and stopping by in a cuban restaurant and shaking hands with the folks and getting takeout and at the a campaign event in st. petersburg looki

president barack obama and former massachusetts governor mitt romney. the stage is ready in denver, colorado. the university of denver. and all of the expectations management to the contrary, the two men you're going to see tonight are very good debaters. they have four ivy leagu degrees between them, after all, and 50 debates between them, though not against each other until tonight. there is a critical third man on that stage tonight in denver. that's the moderator, jim lehrer of pbs. he's done a dozen of these. and the rules, which he will announce at the start, give him broad leeway to guide the conversation and the debate. it is a cold room in denver. the campaigns wanted the temperature low. and it's not likely to stay that way once we get under way. both men have been prepping for days. this happens to be the obamas' 20th wedding anniversary. moments ago we saw a warm embrace between mrs. romney and mrs. obama. they both met each other at the front of the hall. their hiss, this is the first of three meetings debate style between these candidates. even though voting is under

second term. he and governor romney know the election's all about the economy and both men were trading jabs today in the battleground state of virginia. >> today's news certainly is not an excuse to try to talk down the economy to score a few political points. it's a reminder that this country has come too far to turn back now. >> when i'm president of the united states, that unemployment rate is going to come down not because people are giving up and dropping out of the work force, but because we're creating more jobs. i will create jobs and get america working again. >> let's get right to tonight's big story. with senator john mccain, the arizona senator and former presidential candidate joining me now. welcome to you, senator. >> thank you, piers. >> we are going to come to the debate in a moment. you've been one of the only people who debated both barack obama and mitt romney so you're in a unique place to tell me what you made of the new style romney and indeed, obama. before we get there, though, today's big news on the jobs front. whichever way you spin this from the republican

what they do. the last time they were in charge, congressman ryan voted 4 and governor romney said he agreed with all of the things that were done last time around. last time around is what caused this national debt. how did this happen? when clinton left, we had a balanced budget in the surplus and things were looking good. [applause] what happened? what happened? they talk about this great recession that they and knowledge as it is fell from the sky. in september of 2008, all of the sudden this thing happened. as my little granddaughter would say, who did it? casper the ghost? they put two wars on a credit card, not paying a penny. even though i introduced legislation to pay for that war. the voted for a new entitlement program without paying one penny for it. they added another trillion dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy. what was the result. ? these are the facts. the result was by the time the rain that turned back over to barack obama and me, they had doubled the national debt in 8 years. the fourth, fifth, or six days we were in office, we were sitting in the oval office at

i.d., which is going to allow governor romney to win the state of pennsylvania, done. >> sorry. it's not done. not anymore. not on our watch. not when we have our say. folks, the fight is far from over. under this ruling, the law's merely been delayed. not dismantled. across the country, republicans are fighting to keep their laws on the books. and they're dreaming up new ways to cheat the system. we've told you about the voter fraud scandal surrounding gop operative nathan sprool. now the investigation is taking the federal level with judge cunningham demanding answers about phoney addresses, even dead people registered as republican voters. meantime, millions of americans are already voting. today in ohio, polling stations were busy with the state's first day of early voting. people actually slept overnight in tents so they could be the first in line to vote. and today the first lady was in ohio, urging people to get out to the polls. >> here in ohio, it is already election day. already election day. early voting starts today, today! i know that after this event, we've got a

barack obama, the democratic nominee and former massachusetts governor, mitt romney, the republican nominee. this debate and the next three, two presidential, one vice-presidential, are sponsored by the commission on presidential debates. tonight's 90 minutes will be about domestic issues and will follow a format designed by the commission. there will be six, roughly 15-minute segments, with two-minute answers for the first question, then open discussion for the remainder of each segment. thousands of people offered suggestions on segment subjects or questions via the internet and other means. but i made the final selections. for the record, they were not submitted for approval to the commission per the candidates. the subjects, as i announce in advance, will be three on the economy, and one each on health care, the role of government, and government, with an emphasis throughout on differences, specifics, and choices. both candidates will also have two-minute closing statements. the audience here in the hall has promised to remain silent. no cheers, applause, boos, hisses, among oth

time question i don't think you want to answer. what is the one question governor romney doesn't want to be asked? >> you are so much more clever than i am. it had not occurred to me to try to come with -- come up with that. i suspect that obama will go after rom flee on the whole, why don't you release your taxes and the personal stuff because that seems to be the heart of the campaign. i think that governor romney ought to ask the president, how does he justify running for re-election with an economy this bad, policies this failed, and his complaint inability to bring washington together to get anything done? i think the more romney can stick to the facts, the more trouble obama will be in tomorrow night. >> greta: what do you expect tomorrow night, in terms -- if people think this will be a huge event? or is this one debate of many, it is chipping away? and what is interesting, i think that afterwards, the pundits and the analysts -- and maybe i will be doing it, calling calling whd who lost? >> look, i think it's a very clear-cut situation. romney has to go in and be very cle

not going to take something they purchased. this is what governor romney said in june the day after the president issued the executive order. >> i think the action that the president took today makes it more difficult to reach that long-term solution, because an executive order is a short-term matter. it can be reversed by subsequent presidents. >> not reversed if he becomes president. nbc's first read calls it a, quote, tale of two mitts, saying on the one hand you have romney saying in recent interviews he won't revoke the executive action on young, illegal immigrants. that he's the grandfather of obama care, and these elm pathetic because he got all massachusetts residents health insurance. on the other hand, one of us saw first hand all the conservative red meat he gave a rally in denver just last night. let me start off with you. ann, you're the journalist. romney was at a rally yesterday, and he started to talk about the keystone pipeline, that kind of red meat that gets the conservative crowd going. but away from the rallies in a recent string of interviews, he's embracing ob

of change may be shifting around governor romney, who struck a new tone on immigration during an interview with "the denver post" last night. romney told "the denver post," quote, the people who have received the special visa that the president put in place, which is aa two-year visa, should expect the visa would continue to be valid. i'm not going to take something they purchased. this is what governor romney said in june the day after the president issued the executive order. >> i think the action that the president took today makes it more difficult to reach that long-term solution, because an executive order is a short-term matter. it can be reversed by subsequent presidents. >> not reversed if he becomes president. nbc's first read calls it a, quote, tale of two mitts, saying on the one hand you have romney saying in recent interviews he won't revoke the executive action on young, illegal immigrants. that he's the grandfather of obama care, and these elm pathetic because he got all massachusetts residents health insurance. on the other hand, one of us saw first hand all the